Loud music is a sakana. Young people don’t realize that after many years of listening to loud music their hearing will go. It bothers me when I see young people with ipods with the earbuds stuck in their ears and I can still hear the music from a few feet away. That means that it is much louder for the person with the earbuds. I don’t understand how they can enjoy it and they don’t understand that they will go prematurely deaf. I was once told that when wearing headphones, or certainly in-the-ear earbuds you should first hold it about a foot away from your ear and if you can still hear it then it is too loud.
I often try to wear earplugs at chasunas but they are uncomfortable and make it hard to speak to other people. It also makes me feel like I’m stuck in my own head in a different world which makes it hard to celebrate with the people around me. I would rather that the bands play softer so that we can dance normally without having to worry about earplugs.